Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is used to treat a variety of disabling neurological symptoms, e.g. symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement, and walking problems. The procedure is also used to treat essential tremor, a common neurological movement disorder.
In DBS, a long thin probe, 8-10 cm long, is planted deep within the brain, through a burrhole in the top of the skull. The distal end of the probe contains electrodes and is positioned within the targeted brain. These electrodes are connected by a cable to an implantable device with electrical components and a battery. This implantable device contains capacitors, which might be needed for capacitive voltage conversion of the battery voltage into a programmable lower or higher voltage needed to generate electrical pulses. Once the probe and implantable device is in place, the electrical pulses are sent from the implantable device to the electrodes into the targeted brain tissue. These current pulses interfere with the neural activity of the targeted brain tissue, which leads to a reduction or even an elimination of tremor and PD symptoms.
The problem with current DBS systems and other similar systems such as heart pacemaker systems is that the electrical components include various bulky capacitors for a.o. voltage conversion, levels shifters, charge balancing and frequency tuning. In case of DBS systems, the implantable device contains electrical components and a battery. The capacitors in the implantable device consume precious space in the implantable, which effectively reduce the size of the (rechargeable) battery and/or the available functionality of the DBS stimulator.